Marcia Shines For GarvanAt the 2007 Garvan Chairman’s Dinner held on 18 September, Marcia Hines thrilled our guests with exquisite renditions of some of her greatest hits in honour of Professor Don Chisholm – a leader in diabetes research and care for over 40 years….https://www.garvan.org.au/news-events/news/marcia-shines-for-garvanhttps://www.garvan.org.au/news-events/news/marcia-shines-for-garvan/@@download/image/DonandJohnWeb.jpg

Marcia Shines For Garvan

At the 2007 Garvan Chairman’s Dinner held on 18 September, Marcia Hines thrilled our guests with exquisite renditions of some of her greatest hits in honour of Professor Don Chisholm – a leader in diabetes research and care for over 40 years….

13 June 2007

The 2007 Garvan Chairman’s Dinner was dedicated to raising funds to
establish the Don Chisholm Chair in diabetes research. Contributions to
the Chair totaling over $1,000,000 were made by the Federal Government;
Diabetes Australia Research Trust; GlaxoSmithKline; and private
individuals. In addition, GlaxoSmithKline chose to establish the GSK
Don Chisholm Fellowship to recognize Professor Chisholm’s
achievements.

Diabetes research at Garvan has grown from a bare handful of
researchers in the 1970s when Don Chisholm arrived, into a major force
internationally working towards better treatment, prevention or cure of
both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. At the Dinner, we asked Don about some
of the Eureka moments in this journey and what he sees the future
holds:

“As a scientist, it’s not so much about Eureka moments but more about a
time when all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle finally fit together.
Discovering the role of gut hormones in releasing insulin was one such
milestone for me. Another was our breakthrough in understanding the
role of abdominal fat, as opposed to ‘butt fat’, in the development of
diabetes.

During my career there have been so many improvements in the management
of diabetes – most flowing out of research by Garvan scientists - which
have made such a difference to the lives of patients. For example,
Professor John Shine’s cloning of the insulin gene, which meant
patients no longer had to rely on pig or cow insulin and also allowed
the development of insulin analogues. Professor David James’ cloning of
the gene for the insulin-regulated glucose transporter. The development
of fingerprick blood sugar measurement and the shift to ambulatory
care, which meant that people with diabetes could now monitor their own
blood sugar and have their diabetes stabilised at home instead of
having to check into hospital for nine days at a time.

I believe that within my lifetime, we will find a way to prevent Type 1
diabetes, probably through vaccine delivery which researchers within
Garvan are working on now. We will also be able to cure some people
with Type 1 through the use of islet transplantation or stem cells. I
don’t believe we will find a cure for Type 2 within my lifetime, but we
will develop much better drugs to improve blood sugar control and help
people lose weight. This will also help us to cut the risks of cancer
and heart disease very significantly, as these diseases are heavily
related to obesity”.